Sanitary napkins used to collect vaginal discharges are well known in the art. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,146 issued Dec. 3, 1985, to Swanson et al., such sanitary napkins are frequently individually packaged for the convenience of the user as she travels, etc. In the Swanson et al. patent, disclosed is a trifolded wrapper which packages a sanitary napkin, covers adhesive on the outwardly oriented face of the backsheet, and may be used for disposing of a used article.
However, one drawback suffered by the Swanson et al. teaching is that the package is larger than necessary, due to the lateral extension of the wrapper beyond the longitudinal side margins of the sanitary napkin. Such extension is necessary for sealing purposes. This arrangement results in a package which is less compact than desirable, requires more space in a purse etc., and, thus, provides less discretion for the user.
Other trifolded arrangements are known, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,423 issued Sep. 14, 1971 to Fraser and in International Publication WO 89/02728 published Apr. 6, 1989 in the name of Froidh et al. However, these teachings suffer from the drawback that conveniently removable packaging used in conjunction with a small individually packaged sanitary napkin is not taught.
Discarding used sanitary napkins enveloped in the packaging is further taught in the art. For example, International Publication WO 89/02729 published Apr. 6, 1989 in the name of Pigneul and U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,047 issued Aug. 26, 1986 to Mattingly disclose two packaging arrangements suitable for this purpose.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin. It is further an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin which is easy for the user to manipulate from the packaged arrangement to the wearing arrangement. It is also an object of this invention to provide a relatively smaller package which provides enhanced discretion for the user. It is also an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin with packaging that also protects exposed adhesive prior to the first use by the wearer. Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin having packaging which may be used for disposal of a used product.